Ultra-HNW advisory set to make its third acquisition since late summer 2007. SunTrust Banks ' ultra-high-net-worth subsidiary GenSpring Family Offices plans to buy Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Cymric Family Office Services. The acquisition, which is expected to close within a few days, gives the Palm Beach, Fla.-based multifamily office its first foothold on the U.S. West Coast.

Cymric's founder and CEO Patricia Soldano, and her team, will stay on after the merger.

Another step

"The acquisition of Cymric will put more power on the side of wealthy families and will accelerate us toward our goal of market leadership through national and international growth," says Genspring's CEO Maria Elena Lagomasino."

Financial terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.

Cymric is GenSpring's third acquisition in about 16 months. In 2007, it added TBK Investments, a Miami-based financial and investment consultancy to wealthy families in Latin America and Europe, to form GenSpring International. Early in 2008, it acquired Phoenix, Ariz.-based Inlign Wealth Management to establish its first office west of the Mississippi.

GenSpring's recent mergers are in keeping with a multi-year expansion strategy aimed at bringing the firm to markets in need of high-end fiduciary wealth management.

GenSpring -- formerly known as Asset Management Advisors -- has about $17 billion in advisory assets. In addition to the locations already mentioned, it has offices in Orlando, Fla., Sarasota, Fla., Tampa Bay, Fla., Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Greenwich, Conn., Washington, D.C., and New York.

Cymric has about $186 million in assets under management, according to its most recent ADV filing with the SEC. -FWR

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